March 22, 2004

HP targets small and midsize businesses

Although at times I get tired of hearing about the "small business market" as a marketing term, it is still a vital and important market. Tech vendors (and all sales folk) know that it is much harder and takes longer to sell to larger businesses. There's millions more smaller businesses. Although individually they will buy less than their larger business colleagues, together they are a HUGE source of revenue.

Hence, Cnet is reporting that Continuing its effort to reach smaller businesses, Hewlett-Packard plans to announce on Monday a slew of new offerings.

The launch includes PCs, data storage gear, printers, support services and finance offerings. HP said the bevy of products and services is part of its $750 million investment focused on the growing small and midsize business market. The offerings are designed to allow such companies to get greater access to expertise and improved reliability from their tech investments.

The small and midsize business market, defined as companies with fewer than 1,000 employees, is ramping up its spending on technology more quickly than Fortune 1,000 companies are, said Tom Kucharvy, analyst at Summit Strategies. "It's the fastest-growing segment of the market," Kucharvy said. "It's held up best during the recession." (full story)

Also read more on this from SiliconAlley.com. It reads in part, Hewlett-Packard is expected to announce today a small-business initiative that includes a computer server priced at $499.

John Brennan, HP's senior vice president for small and medium business, said the Palo Alto company will invest an estimated $750 million in the "Smart Office" program. Those investments include marketing expenses, product development and research and development targeted at winning over small-business owners.

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